Tempting the Lion: the cost of envy
by Kasha2
Summary: Someone watches Ivy weep. Someone envies the tears streaming from her sightless eyes. Someone hates her. Someone gets a very bad idea....


Summary: Someone watches Ivy fuss over Lucius and gets a very bad idea.  
  
Author's Note: Eh, you'll figure it out.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own The Village. So the characters used in this (and any other story) I write belong strictly to Mr. Shyamalan...who would probably think me mad for entertaining myself this way.  
  
I envied her. I envied her wholly. Her ringlets of bouncing orange hair, her pristine blue eyes, her enchanting smile...I envied her so deeply.  
  
Envy is, I believe, a primal human emotion like shame and excitement. When our minds dwell on regret or our hearts flutter in sweet anticipation of the next moment we are experiencing to some degree the purest of sensations. At that certain moment, standing in the doorway of the infirmary, I held one of those emotions locked firmly in my chest.  
  
Such complete envy. Her looks, her gifts, her friends. I wanted them all.  
  
Ivy Walker, the blind seer. The village's resident prodigy. Mysterious, yet present always. Intelligent yet fun.  
  
Her sightless eyes see so much more than they tell. I wished, almost, to steal her existence from her---blindness and all. I could handle it, I told myself haughtily. I could act as she does: helpless and fair one moment and boldly strong at the next.  
  
I desired to rob her of her fiancé: the ever brooding Lucius Hunt. I am now aware that half the girls my age and younger felt affections deeper than friendship for this boy. He is so different from the rowdy, loud, mischievous young men that play at the border. He is also quite stunning to look upon. His profound green eyes can produce a gaze so intense that it frightens even the elder men! It is not wise to look upon Lucius unkindly, though he is rather timid. It is unwise because, like Ivy, he is rumored to possess magick.  
  
That is another reason I envied Ivy. Everyone is impressed by her. The schoolgirls whisper that she is a white witch, powerful and benevolent. Those same girls whisper that Lucius is a perfect match, for there is a mystic haze around him as well, but perhaps less easy to identify.  
  
She makes my blood boil with anger, still. Though I am now far from that infirmary door. If she can do it, a blind girl, so can I.  
  
I venture to the towns. I am brave, I hope.  
  
No one knows that I am gone. The woods beckon so alluringly.  
  
"Prove yourself," they say. "Make haste! Enter. Enter the woods before they spy your absence. You are as brave as she. Prove it. Prove to them all your worth. You can do it. Do it. Do it. The creatures? They are no match for you! No match at all! Prove yourself! Go! Seize your prize. Upon setting foot beyond these trees you attest to your worth! Equal to she! Better, better! You can have it. All of it. Go to the towns. Show them that a blind witch is no sterling advisery! For too long you have sulked in the corners, jealous, callused. You have watched her be praised again and again. Forgo your doubts. Abandon reluctance. If you do it, if you make it to the towns and see what Ivy could not, do what she could not: come back with knowledge of the outside world, you will be so much more. So much greater. Do it. Do it. Outshine Ivy. Take back what she stole. The glory of your father's pride. Your love. Do it, Kitty. Make your sister weep as you have wept."  
  
"I cannot!" I answered, almost aloud. "I cannot. She is my sister. My cherished one! I can not envy her looks, for the same blood runs in my veins. I can not envy her man, for I am now married to Christop! Please, I am begging you, tempt me no more."  
  
"Tempt, coax, lure, we will do what we must. Come, Kitty. Kitty, kitten---names too fair and womanly! You are a lioness! GO! Into the forest, passed the berries f the Bad Colour and the shallow open grave of the creature your sister slew. YOUR SISTER: the blind girl! She killed a beast! Surly you can as well."  
  
My fingernails peeled at the bark of the tree. "Torment me no longer."  
  
"Kitty. If you can not do this, you are less than her. Less than less."  
  
"But, but..."  
  
"No excuse is fit. Steady your trembling hands. Take the step. TAKE IT!"  
  
I heard squeal of frustration from the trees. The leaves rustled woefully. I could smell the meat from the Sacrifice Stone starting to rot. Flies swarmed about me. I took the step towards vengeance and temptation. Two more primal human emotions.  
  
Shame, envy, vengeance, temptation. I told myself these were all fueled by the most shining of all: love. I told myself this again and again. I fed myself lies and delusion as I wandered into the forest alone and after a long, long time, came across a shallow grave.  
  
Author's Note: I thought, "Hey! Kitty was all obsessed with Lucius and probably madly jealous of her sister, despite rambling about Ivy being her 'cherished one.' So the shock and pain of her ex-obsession on the brink of death would probably send an already compulsive Kitty off the deep end! What if, to outdo her sister, she ventured into the forest where, of course, she wouldn't find any creatures but only the body of Noah wrapped in the 'hide' of a Creature, and perhaps even an old road leading to a fence...hmm!" Imagine Kitty ruining everything. It'd probably cause a chain reaction. Kitty is shocked to learn the truth and comes back to the Village more messed up than she starts out. The elders don't want to give up their dream after coming so far so they swear Kitty to secrecy! Then...who knows! Maybe it's a fanfic for another night...;-) 


End file.
